Englewood Cliffs councilwoman sues borough for records

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John C. Ensslin

ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS — Councilwoman Ellen Park has filed a lawsuit against the borough and its mayor, council president and borough clerk for allegedly denying her access to documents and withholding agendas for mayor and council meetings until shortly before meetings.

Park, a Democrat, alleges that the borough violated the state’s open public records law and her rights as a councilwoman by failing to provide copies of correspondence between the borough’s attorney, Republican Mayor Mario Kranjac and the council and leaving her in the dark about agenda items.

“Transparency is very important to me and I’m doing this so everyone is on the same playing field,” Park said. “I feel there’s been game playing and injustice in this matter.”

Mayor Kranjac called the lawsuit frivolous. He accused Park and the council’s two other Democrats, Ed Aversa and Gloria Oh, of acting improperly and using the courts to advance the local Democratic Party's wrongdoings.

Mayor Mario Kranjac spoke to the borough at the reorganization meeting, calling for an end to the "politics of personal loyalty."(Photo: BernadetteMarciniak/NorthJersey.com)

“Between Ellen and her affiliates, I have received a very large number of spurious, unclear and unintelligible OPRA and other information demands since becoming mayor,” Kranjac wrote in a statement. “As a council member, if she would come to meetings on time and pay attention to our agendas and proceedings, she would know exactly what is taking place.”

Republican Council President Carrol McMorrow wrote in a statement that she has worked with the borough administrator and borough attorney to turn over everything she is legally required to.

“The allegations in the complaint pertaining to me are without merit,” McMorrow wrote.

Park said she took legal action after months of receiving agendas late, sometimes hours before council meetings, and having her request for all emails, letters and fax communication between the governing body and the borough attorney this year repeatedly rebuffed.

The borough clerk and borough attorney Anne Marie Rizzuto, who was then attached to the law firm Dorsey & Semrau, denied her requests for being too broad, according to emails attached to the complaint.

Park disagreed with the assessment and argued that she was entitled to the correspondence.

In a May email to the law firm’s Fred Semrau that was attached to her lawsuit, Park wrote: “It seems every time I ask Ann [sic] Marie for some documents or information, there is always resistance… I can’t help but feel that my requests are being unfairly ignored and dismissed. This cannot continue.”

Park alleges in her complaint that Semrau agreed to provide the requested material on a USB stick but the stick never reached her because Kranjac ordered Semrau not to provide it.

Kranjac said he stopped the release of the USB stick because Semrau had not reviewed the material for attorney-client privilege, confidentiality and compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

"Upon realizing that I was right, he was to ask our borough council to approve the expenditures for his fees for such review which he and Ellen Park never did," Kranjac wrote in a statement.

Park said she hopes her lawsuit helps erase the deep political divisions on the council and paves the way for more nonpartisan governing.

“The fact is that I’m a councilperson like anybody else on the council and it shouldn’t be one-sided because of party lines,” Park said. “Information is for everyone on the council, not just for one party.”